The United States and South Korea will begin their biggest combined military training in years from August 22- September 1, as an increasingly aggressive North Korea, continues ramping up weapons tests.
Key points:
- The US and South Korea say the move is defensive, despite a history of drills provoking anger from North Korea
- Officials haven’t confirmed how many troops will be involved, but an average total of 210,000 participated in previous years
- The two countries will train for drone attacks and other new warfare developments seen in Russia’s attack on Ukraine
South Korea’s military said the allies’ summer drills will include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops.
The training will take place from August 22 to September 1 in South Korea, under the name Ulchi Freedom Shield.
The drills underscore Washington and Seoul’s commitment to restore large-scale training after cancelling some regular drills and downsizing others to computer simulations in recent years.
The move was initially made because of COVID-19 concerns and an effort to improve diplomacy with Pyongyang.
The US Department of Defense also said the US, South Korean and Japanese navies held missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises off the coast of Hawaii from August 8 to 14.
It said this was to further trilateral cooperation in the face of North Korean challenges.
Drills involving both countries in the past have included attacks on simulated targets. (AP: South Korea Defence Ministry)
While the US and South Korea described their exercises as defensive, Ulchi Freedom Shield will almost surely draw an angry reaction from North Korea.
The northern nation describes all allied training as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missile development.
Before they were shelved or downsized, the US and South Korea held major joint exercises every spring and summer in South Korea.
The spring exercises typically highlighted live-fire drills across a broad range of land, air and sea assets and usually involved around 10,000 American and 200,000 Korean troops.
Officials at Seoul’s Defense Ministry and its Joint Chiefs of Staff did not comment on the number of US and South Korean troops that would be participating in Ulchi Freedom Guardian Shield.
The drills, which will kick off along with a four-day South Korean civil defence training program led by government employees, will reportedly include exercises simulating joint attacks, frontline reinforcements of arms and fuel, and removals of weapons of mass destruction.
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